Home

the website and blogs of will rochow

A Brief Biography:

Who is Will Rochow? First and foremost, he is a Christian. He is also a Bible school and seminary graduate who went on to become a Baptist pastor. After having served three Alberta churches, he left the traditional institutional church system behind, and began participating in a non-institutional and more organic form of Christian fellowship. As a result, sometimes Will muses that he is now an "Outlaw Preacher."

Will is also a humorist who loves a good laugh. Puns and one-liners are a common part of his repertoire, a trait that he shares with his father and brothers. Will is a confessed coffee snob, avoiding what he calls the popular cess-pool varieties of pseudo-coffee, and often saying that some things in life are simply non-negotiable. Other interests that occupy Will's time include motorcycling, music, extensive reading, maintaining the blogs hosted on this website, and walking his hisdog. In the warmer months, Will can often be found enjoying the outdoors on his deck playing a game of Cribbage or Backgammon with, as he sometimes jokes, his "favourite wife." On one such evening, this picture of Will and Ginny was taken.

Will and Ginny have been married for over thirty five years. They recently became members in that wonderful age-old elitist club: 'Grandparenting.' This in turn allowed them to finally understand that anonymous mantra, "If we had known grandkids could be so much fun, we would have had them first." They are also the proud parents to a 110-pound fur-baby; a rescue dog who, perhaps ironically, rescued them as as much as they rescued her.

Will and Ginny live in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada.

The Publications:

Will is one of the contributors in the multi-authored book, Finding Church, a Civitas Press publication (2012) edited by Jeremy Myers. It is a collection of "Stories of Leaving, Switching, and Reforming;" essentially a collection of personal testimonies of 36 different people in their personal spiritual pilgrimages. Will's chapter is entitled "Leaving for Love" and chronicles some of the events that ultimately culminated in his exodus from the traditional institutional church. The point is, everyone of us have a story, and within these pages, are some of ours. Having said that, if you have ever questioned church, this book may be of interest to you.

Along with 23 others, Will is also a contributing author to Simple Church: Unity Within Diversity. It is a Redeeming Press publication (2014) edited by Eric Carpenter and with the forward written by Wayne Jacobsen. The main premise behind this book is that too often Christians are known for what they're against rather than what they're for. The Simple Church concept shows that, despite the obvious diversity amongst the followers of Jesus, unity in the Body of Christ can still be had, and must be had. If you have wondered what such unity might look like, then Simple Church may be of interest to you. Herein is what the church looks like to us.

Will is editor of his younger brother's 30-VolumeKnow-It-Allseries. It is a tongue-in-cheek series on such subjects as Theology, History, Justice, Leadership, Poverty and a host of others, and presents a glimpse of the often humorous mindset of Will and his bothers. The author's caveat states, "While there will no doubt be detractors claiming there are omissions, the goal of the publication is to highlight the need for further study ... To that end, the author has left room on each page for taking notes." The double entendre here will become apparent once you peruse a copy of one of the series' books. As the author also says, "You might just be surprised at what you can still learn after you know it all."

A Few Words About the Blogs:

Will's first blog is Rethinking Faith and Church and uses the image of an upside down church. Why? There are two main reasons Will chose that image.

First, it represents Will's wrestling in the faith since leaving the traditional institutional form of Christianity. This was a time in which he came to realize that something was amiss in Christianity as we've come to know it. This was a time in which Will found himself re-evaluating a lot of previously dearly held doctrines; some of which he ultimately discarded, while others he embraced all the
more. It was a time when everything seemed upside down in his spiritual life, and a time where he went back to what he believed were the basics of the faith; essentially a de-institutionalizing of the church in his life. Having said that, Will does not seek to dwell on what's wrong with the church, nor is he angry towards it, but rather he seeks to learn to celebrate what's right with it and to encourage others to do likewise.

Secondly, this picture also represents his belief that sometimes
it may be necessary to shake us all upside down a bit in order to dislodge us from
our inherent lethargy and comfortable pews. This stems from Will's belief that maybe the church needs to "get out
there" more than it typically does. Will often muses that perhaps we have all become a
little too comfortable in our institutions, forgetting that those who really
need the message of the church, will likely never find themselves inside of
her walls. Perhaps that is why in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19), Jesus said, "GO." Go where? Go to where the people are. In other words, don't just "GO" to church and wait for them to come to you (as we often tend to do), rather "BE" the church, wherever the people are, and wherever the Spirit of God may lead you. If we really did that, we may be surprised to find out where we end up on Sunday mornings.

The posts in Rethinking Faith and Church are sometimes satirical, sometimes confrontational, and sometimes (some would say) bordering a little on the heretical; but hopefully they're always done in love. Ultimately they represent Will's renewed spiritual pilgrimage from outside the religious box of institutionalism, through which he would hope that we all might come to think a little deeper for ourselves on the things of the faith, and not just blindly follow the status quo. In the end, Will believes that just because we've always done church a certain way, doesn't mean that way is necessarily right and beyond examination, and thus Rethinking Faith and Church was born. Facebook Page

Will's second blog is called The Other Side of Will. Why a second blog? In Will's way of thinking, there is a logical reason.

There's an interesting passage in the Bible attributed to Solomon that says, "There is a time for everything ... [including] a time to laugh" (Ecclesiastes 3: 1,4). So, just as Dr. Jekyll had a Mr. Hyde, so too Will's rather eclectic personality includes an other side, a side that includes plenty of laughter and jokes. It is a side that he often calls his "twisted sense of humour." Since these other interests do not always lend themselves well to the overall theme of his other blog, Will decided to create this blog. Essentially The Other Side of Will is a menagerie of all non-faith related topics that interest him. The Other Side of Will is primarily about enjoying life and is generally not to be taken too seriously, as depicted by the picture on the left.

The source of this photo is unknown to Will, and he takes no credit for it. However, that's not to say that it doesn't have a "Will Story" attached to it. There was a time in Will's professional career in which he provided non-ambulatory transportation, mostly to wheelchair-bound seniors. When Will discovered this picture he sent it as an email attachment to his superiors stating that he had to take his vehicle out of commission for a few days for maintenance and servicing. He then mentioned that he made some alternate transportation arrangements for the interim. For the most part, the humour was well received, but there were a couple questionable glances. However, such is the nature of humour; not everyone will appreciate our jokes. One man's humour could potentially be another man's sacrilege, and Will tries to be sensitive to that, purposely not posting content that, while perhaps humorous in his views, may cross that line and offend another. After all, if we have deliberately offended, then we probably have also not acted with love and respect, and that would be unfortunate.

Having said that, there is more to The Other Side of Will than just humour. There are all sorts of weird and wonderful things in the world that interest or amuse Will and which he blogs about here; things such as his foodie experiments, craft beer discoveries, motorcycling adventures, weird stuff he finds in the newspaper, and much more. Mostly, The Other Side of Will is about life; Will's life, lived Will's way. The bottom line is best summed up in one of Will's favourite mantras: "Never get so busy making a living, that you forget to make a life."Facebook Page

Ἀμήν, ἔρχου κύριε Ἰησοῦ

(Revelation 22:20)

The opinions and random musings expressed in these blogs are mostly my own, and do not necessarily represent the views of my employer, family or friends.

I mean no disrespect to any religious group or organization, or to the people who make up such groups and organizations. If offence is taken, please accept my humble apology.